Kurdish Members of Parliament (MPs) have responded to a sexually aggressive image published in an Iraqi newspaper in reaction to Monday’s independence referendum vote, with one female MP saying the image “amounts to a declaration of war against the Kurdistan region.”
The Iranian government arrested scores of Kurdish civilians in Rojhelat this week following the historic “yes” vote for Kurdish independence on Monday.
Turkish President Recep Erdogan dismissed the possibility of Kurdistan becoming an independent state on Thursday following their independence referendum this week, claiming the process will only end in “disappointment.”
The president of Iraq’s Kurdish region warned on Friday that the Kurds might be forced to retaliate if the central government persists with what his spokesman called a “very aggressive” stance toward the pro-independence referendum.
The prime ministers of Iraq and Turkey spoke on the telephone on Wednesday to discuss the likely outcome of the Kurdistan’s referendum on independence, the results of which will be announced Friday.
Following Kurdistan’s overwhelming vote in favor of seceding from Iraq on Monday, Baghdad’s parliament announced a series of measures intended to prevent their independence, including deploying Iraqi troops to Kurdish Peshmerga held areas.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi announced on Twitter this week that Baghdad would seek full control of all airports, land crossings, and oil revenues under the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) by Friday, threatening to seize them if Erbil does not comply with the order.
TEL AVIV – Senior Iranian officials claimed Monday’s independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan was a “plot” orchestrated by Israel and the United States.
Over 90 percent of the three million voters in the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) of Iraq voted to secede from Iraq and establish an independent Kurdistan Monday, in an election widely heralded as free and fair.
The Iraqi government has announced it will not hold talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) following Monday’s independence referendum, describing the process as “unconstitutional.”
WASHINGTON — The United States warned that an independence referendum Monday for Iraqi Kurdistan to break away from Baghdad will “increase instability.”
The Russian government is now the primary funder of oil and gas deals in the autonomous region of Kurdistan and has yet to outline its position on next week’s Kurdish independence referendum, a report from Reuters has revealed.
Iraq is prepared to intervene militarily if the Kurdish region’s planned independence referendum results in violence, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Saturday.
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s foreign ministry has summoned Germany’s ambassador in Ankara to protest the country for allowing “terror propaganda” by Kurdish militants.
Official campaigning has begun in Kurdistan for the region’s independence referendum scheduled to take place later this month.
The head of Turkey’s Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) defined the independence referendum scheduled to be held in Iraqi Kurdistan in September as a “cause of war” in remarks Thursday. Turkey maintains a significant military presence in Syria and Iraq, opposed by the governments of both countries.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Kurdish diaspora in America has come out in support of the upcoming vote for Kurdish independence, scheduled to take place on September 25. However, some still believe the timing is not yet right for such an event to take place.
During a speech held in Duhok, Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said the Kurdish people have “completely lost hope” in Iraq and must hold a referendum to decide their future.
The autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan region “must be” allowed to hold an independence referendum this year because they have the “right” to express their aspirations to break away from Iraq, declared Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with Kurdish news outlet Rudaw.
Representatives of the Kurdistan Regional Government of Iraq (KRG), including a spokesman for the Peshmerga, has requested the United States increase its aid to the group as the Peshmerga undergo a major restructuring intended to evolve them from one of the most effective militias in Iraq into the military of an independent Kurdistan.
Kurds marked the 30-year anniversary on Thursday of Saddam Hussein’s gassing campaign against the people of Kurdistan–which killed 140 civilians and wounded thousands more–as the region prepares to hold a referendum on its independence.
Kurdish officials are hitting back against Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has expressed “strong opposition” to a September referendum on establishing an independent Kurdistan in what is now Iraq.
The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet is reporting that supporters of the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) are organizing a political party to challenge the pro-Syrian Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), whose leadership is largely in prison.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called the upcoming referendum on Kurdish independence on Iraq “wrong” and “a threat to the territorial integrity of Iraq,” despite his country’s friendly ties with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
On Sunday, the Jews in the Kurdistan Region and the Diaspora, along with the State of Israel and the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) Representative for the Jewish community Sherzad Omar Mamsani, issued a joint statement expressing support for the KRG’s decision to hold a referendum vote on their independence on September 25, 2017.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi issued a statement Friday rejecting the call by Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) President Masoud Barzani for a national independence referendum, declaring that the Kurdish people cannot “decide its fate unilaterally.”
The autonomous Iraqi region of Kurdistan has announced an independence referendum to take place this September, in a move likely to anger officials in Iraq.
Concerns are growing amongst Iraqi Kurdish officials over the presence of Shiite-majority Hashd al-Shaabi paramilitaries in Northern Iraq where many territories remain controlled by the Islamic State.
Multiple Turkish media outlets are reporting that the United States deployed a new convoy of about 100 trucks to Syrian Kurds fighting the Islamic State in Rojava, or Syrian Kurdistan, this week.
Guards accompanying Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan violently attacked protesters in Washington, D.C. Tuesday who had congregated outside the Turkish ambassador to America’s residence, most Armenians and Kurds protesting Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian bent under Erdogan.
WASHINGTON – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told Breitbart News that, while his country does not have “any problems with the Kurds,” they are not amenable to an independent, Kurdish state at the moment.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry warned that Ankara would not hesitate to bomb the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG/YPJ) should it seek to remain in the city of Manbij following the eradication of the Islamic State from that area. The YPG has been a longtime American ally, and the Pentagon is working to assert that it does not pose a threat to Turkey.
The Turkish government has issued a warrant for the arrest of Salih Muslim, one of the leaders of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). The PYD’s military wings, the YPG and YPJ, are longtime American allies on the ground against the Islamic State in Syria.
As the operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul of Islamic State terrorists continues, the civilians freed through the work of the Kurdish Peshmerga and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) did little to hide their joy at being rid of their oppressive regime.
Contents: Turkey’s Erdogan blames the EU for reneging on the refugee deal; With Turkey ‘left alone,’ Erdogan announces refugee plan conflicting with US plans; A major new flood of refugees starting to flee from Mosul in Iraq
Beirut, Lebanon – Turkish shelling and airstrikes killed at least 40 Syrians on Sunday, a monitor said, in the first significant civilian casualties in Turkey’s intensifying campaign in northern Syria.
Earlier this week, Turkey made a highly publicized demand for the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG and YPJ) to retreat east of the Euphrates after successfully conquering territory from the Islamic State. The YPG agreed, but Turkish troops shelled YPG locations on Friday anyway.
(REUTERS) – A suicide truck bombing at a police headquarters in Turkey’s largely Kurdish southeast killed at least 11 and wounded dozens on Friday, two days after Turkey launched an incursion against Islamic State and Kurdish militia fighters in Syria.
American officials have confirmed that Syrian Kurdish troops have agreed to stay east of Iraq’s Euphrates River, a demand imposed by the Turkish government. The Turks’ public concerns over Syrian Kurdish expansion come as the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Masoud Barzani, visits Ankara to reaffirm his solidarity with Erdogan.
The crackdown on journalists and media outlets with unfavorable outlooks towards the Islamist government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues in Turkey, where a Hurriyet reporter has been arrested for tweeting a rumor that the head of Turkey’s intelligence agency had been a suspect in last month’s failed coup.
